This invention relates generally to reader-filler machines for loading microfiche jackets, and more particularly to a machine adapted to handle discrete microfilm strips and to optically view the image frame thereon before insertion to facilitate severing the strips at the desired junctions.
Transparent microfiche jackets housing 16 or 35 millimeter film are currently in widespread use in connection with the storage and retrieval of information photographically recorded on a reduced scale. One well-known form of microfiche jacket is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,238,655, the jacket being composed of two transparent plastic panels in superposed relation laminated together by parallel ribs which define a plurality of open-ended channels adapted to accommodate microfilm strips, each carrying a series of image frames of recorded text and other documentation. To facilitate the insertion of microfilm, slots are cut in one of the panels adjacent an end thereof to provide an entry into each channel.
The loaded multi-channel jacket functions as a microfiche master from which low-cost duplicates or reference copies can be quickly made by contact printing, using diazo-processing techniques for this purpose. A similar microfiche jacket is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,866,648, the multiple film-receiving channels in this instance being defined by parallel bonding lines formed by ultrasonically fusing the plastic panels together.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,238,655 and 4,167,842 disclose reader-filler machines for loading and updating a multi-channel microfiche jacket with film chips. Insertions are made by placing the jacket to be filled on an inclined platform that is indexible in the Y-direction to register successive jacket channels with the leading edge of an incoming film web drawn from a reel, the film being guided in the X-direction along a trackway terminating adjacent the edge of the platform. In operation, a film section constituted by one or more image frames is advanced into a selected channel, the trailing edge of the section then being severed to form a film chip which remains in the channel. The platform is then indexed to the next channel for the next insertion.
Reader-filler machines of the type disclosed in these patents are relatively complex mechanisms which are designed for use with microfilm in reel form, the frames on the film drawn from the reel being optically viewable so that the point at which the film is to be severed for insertion in a microfiche jacket can be precisely determined.
In recent years, complete document microfilming machines designed for office use have become available, these copiers being as simple to operate as a conventional office xerographic copier. Typical of such microfilming machines is the table Model 6100 machine marketed by Electro-Optical Mechanisms, Inc. of Pomona, Calif. This self-contained machine is a microfilm processor that produces a 16 mm fully-processed film strip of six inches in length having up to 14 images thereon reduced to one twenty-fourth the original document size.
Thus the operator of the Model 6100 copier, very much in the fashion of an office xerographic copier, successively places documents of up to 81/2.times.14 inches in size in the machine. The machine takes reduced-scale photocopies of these documents on film which is automatically processed, advanced and cut to yield a single microfilm strip of standard size.
Another simplified office microfilm copier is the "Micle 1200" copier manufactured by Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd., of Tokyo, Japan. This copier is adapted to microfilm documents at a high speed (50 frames per minute), the film roll being automatically cut into strips of 12 frames each, to allow microfilming in smaller batches. This results in quicker access to required information and greatly cuts down on waiting time and film waste.
Because reel-type reader-filler machines of the type disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,238,655 and 4,167,842 are mechanically complex, cumbersome and expensive, and are intended for use with microfiche jacket insertion on a large scale, such machines are inappropriate for use with office microfilm copiers which yield discrete film strips containing 12 or 14 frames.
In order to provide a microfilm inserter for strips of the type produced by the Fiji Photo and other office copiers, U.S. Pat. No. 4,064,677 of Takahishi et al. discloses a device having a table for retaining a microfilm jacket into which a film strip is inserted by means of feed rolls. Such strips have either a blank leader or a blank trailer.
In a conventional microfilm inserter, the film strip is first inserted in the jacket channel and the trailer is then cut along the end of the jacket to obtain a strip of proper length. Because the channel entry slot is somewhat inset from the jacket end, the conventional method of cutting the film strip along the end of the jacket makes necessary an additional positional adjustment wherein the end of the film is pushed inward until it reaches the slot. In the Takahashi patent machine, the trailer of the film strip is inserted as far as the entry slot of the jacket and the leader is thereafter cut off.
The Takahashi inserter and other known inserters for film strips are adapted to fill all channels of a microfiche jacket with microfilm strips of standard size having 12 or 14 frames. Such inserters are incapable of loading the channels with sections cut from standard strips for the purpose of providing an updatable microfiche record.
In many instances, a given record may consist of, say, 7 documents to be copied. The conventional office copier will copy three documents and release a standard strip containing 7 frames, even though it has a capacity of 12 or 14 frames. Hence if the full strip capacity is not used, the strip will have a blank zone. But with a conventional inserter for standard office copier strips, the blank zone cannot be excised, for the inserter is capable only of inserting the full strip, thereby wasting channel space and precluding updating.
An inherent advantage of a microfiche jacket as compared to a microfiche card having film frames permanently bonded or incorporated therein is that the jacket permits the record to be updated. Thus each jacket channel having a 12 frame capacity can first be partially loaded with a film section or chip containing, say, 5 frames. At a later time, an additional film section may be inserted in the same channel to update the record.
A reader-filler of the type disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,872,645 has an updating capability, for the film being inserted is optically viewable and it may be severed at any desired junction between successive frames. But, as noted previously, a reader-filler of this type which includes an indexing mechanism and other complexities is inappropriate for inserting discrete film strips of the type produced by office copiers.